Season is a week out. Tells us your Preseason thoughts on your team

[mr.hockey4242]

Pretty simple.

Try to be objective but give your thoughts.

Strengths, weaknesses, impact players, breakout players etc..

 

[antone112]

The most talent we've had in Lincoln since the early 90's. But we're really young.

 

[Fountain City Blues]

Looks pretty and all, but can they use the regular season to round into Natty contender form and get a good dice roll in March? Everything else often waxes into the background as a KU fan oftentimes, imo.

Not a whole lot I like to declare with this team until midseason. I just know it is hyped as usual.

 

[ericd7633]

Gophers:

Strengths - More depth due to some transfers, and a good recruiting class(by Gophers standards). Should be better on the defensive end.

Weakness - A lot of new pieces, how long will it take to gel. Still pretty undersized for B1G standards. As of now an indifferent fanbase, so if things go south early, will they be calling for Pitino's head?

Impact players - All starts with Nate Mason. I think he has the potential to be a 3rd team all B1G type of player.

Breakout players - Amir Coffey. The best recruit of the Pitino era should make an immediate impact. Good possibility he averages double figures this season, could be the singular best talent to play at Minnesota since Kris Humphries(not counting Royce White because he never suited up)

Expectations - I'm hoping they can take care of the guarantee games this season, but even that's not a guarantee with playing mid majors like UT-Arlington, Southern Illinois and Northern Illinois. Get St. John's and Arkansas at home, could be two wins, could be two losses, then play @ FSU and a neutral site game against Vandy. I'd honestly sign up for a 2-2 stretch in those 4 games. My prediction is that we finish the non conference portion of the schedule 9-4. My guess is we go something like 5-13 in B1G play and finish with a 14-17 record, which would be a 6 win improvement, and I'd be okay with giving Pitino another year with everybody coming back except Springs.

 

[Hitman Hart]

Strengths- Post Play. John Collins and Doral Moore should be be a pretty good duo this year. Outside shooting should also be much improved. The additions of Austin Arians, Keyshawn Woods, along with Freshmen Brandon Childress and Richard Washington should help out here. Chemistry should improve, and the losses of Devin Thomas and Codi Miller-McIntyre should help out in that regard.

Weaknesses- Defense, most notably from the perimeter. Going to list this as a weakness until there are signs that it is going to get better. Hoping, Keyshawn Woods and Brandon Childress take most of Mitchell Wilbekin's minutes. Wilbekin has been a terrible defender during his first two years at Wake.

Impact Player- Bryant Crawford. Averaged close to 14 PPG last year, with 4.4 APG and 1.7 SPG. Shot selection and his TO rate will need to get better.

Breakout Players- John Collins and Doral Moore. Collins is a 6'10 Forward with good to great athleticism, a good face up game and great touch around the basket. Played behind Devin Thomas last year, but was very productive in the minutes that he received. His Per 40 stats were off the charts last year. Had trouble with silly fouls, so will definitely need to improve that aspect of his game.

Moore is a 7'1 C with good athleticism. Very active around the rim, appears to have good touch. Has the tools and the skillet to be a problem inside on both ends of the court for the opposition. He's a potential game changer. Had problem with endurance last year, so hopefully that has improved over the off-season. He started last year as someone that was deemed as a "project", but by the time the year ended, fans were begging Manning for him to start over a guy that was averaging 15.6 PPG and 10.2 RPG.

Record Prediction: 17-14 (7-11). Think Wake will suffer from youthful mistakes this year, but they will be fun to watch. Preparing for a return to the NCAA's in 2018.

 

[mr.hockey4242]

Gophers:

Strengths - More depth due to some transfers, and a good recruiting class(by Gophers standards). Should be better on the defensive end.

Weakness - A lot of new pieces, how long will it take to gel. Still pretty undersized for B1G standards. As of now an indifferent fanbase, so if things go south early, will they be calling for Pitino's head?

Impact players - All starts with Nate Mason. I think he has the potential to be a 3rd team all B1G type of player.

Breakout players - Amir Coffey. The best recruit of the Pitino era should make an immediate impact. Good possibility he averages double figures this season, could be the singular best talent to play at Minnesota since Kris Humphries(not counting Royce White because he never suited up)

Expectations - I'm hoping they can take care of the guarantee games this season, but even that's not a guarantee with playing mid majors like UT-Arlington, Southern Illinois and Northern Illinois. Get St. John's and Arkansas at home, could be two wins, could be two losses, then play @ FSU and a neutral site game against Vandy. I'd honestly sign up for a 2-2 stretch in those 4 games. My prediction is that we finish the non conference portion of the schedule 9-4. My guess is we go something like 5-13 in B1G play and finish with a 14-17 record, which would be a 6 win improvement, and I'd be okay with giving Pitino another year with everybody coming back except Springs.

Pretty spot on.

I think I'd add outside shooting as a weakness unless Mason/Springs are unreal. The size addition this year is huge.

Also, if Curry isn't a breakout player he will prove to be a steal of a recruit going forward.

Murphy is kinda a impact-breakout hybrid.

I think your expectations(hopefully) are close to the floor. They have potential to be better.

 

[douggie]

Carnac The Great thinks Duke might have a pretty good team this season.

 

[mr.hockey4242]

Marquette

Expectations: After 3 awful years we finally get back to the dance. Reality tho is it's really up in the air. The potential is there to make the tourney comfortably but the weaknesses on paper are so glaringly it might be another no NIT year. I'll be confident, predict we squeak in by losing two non con games and going 10-8 in BE.

Strengths: Shooting, finally. It's been years since we've had this many capable shooters(including some of the very good teams over last 6 years). Not a 1 or 2 man team, numerous scorers. Fisher, Johnson and Wilson will all join the 1,000 pt club..Rowsey and Reinhardt did it at other teams and Cheatam will be there early junior year. We have guys who can draw fouls and depth in talent(won't rely on the same guys).

Weaknesses: Not many,but very glaringly. NO true PF...like at all. So defense and rebounding could be flat out bad at times. TOs could be the turning point. They were bad last year if not improved we are screwed. Lack of size is the huge weakness

Impact players: The 3 seniors. Fischer is the lone big man, he's gotta be good and limit fouls. He's most important because of that. JJJ was our best player second half of conference last year(including Henry) he's gotta emerge. Reinhardt has done it before and been there before.

Breakout Players: Traci Carter and Markus Howard. We need PG stability(it sucked last year). Carter got valuable freshman experience it's time to show it. Howard is only 17, but he came to college early for a reason. He can play.

Haanif Cheatam: Gets his own spot since he doesn't have a category. Technically broke out last year, but becomes an impact player if he well rounds his game. Could challenge the all time scoring list at MU. He scored over 11 per game as freshman and literally only took 3s(minimal) or layups, midrange makes him elite.

I posted a lot because it's truly a crossroads year. Wojo has to show some clearly improvement. The talent and depth(in talent) is there but the weaknesses are glaring. Could be a surprise year or another "point and laugh" at those fools year.

 

[Hard2Bluff]

Elite 8, hopefully fianl 4. We have a strong group of freshman and battle tested upper class men.

 

[jontaejones]

Pretty simple.

Try to be objective but give your thoughts.

Strengths, weaknesses, impact players, breakout players etc..

Strengths:
Returning three starters and three major contributors from a team that won it all. The key I believe was team chemistry. Our team was difficult to guard because we were a threat to score at every position and everywhere on the floor. That made it impossible to key in on one, two, or even three guys. Hart is a stud that was made for the college game. He can score from everywhere.

Weaknesses:
No low post scoring threat or rim protection. Darryl Reynolds might carry some of the load Ochefu leaves, but it's a pretty gaping hole. The loss of Arcidiacono leaves the perimeter defense weaker.

Breakout players:
Brunson and Bridges and Reynolds blossoms in Ocefu's absence. If either can become the best player on the team, then the limit is the sky, because you know what you're getting from Hart and Jenkins.

Best case scenario:
Brunson and Bridges become stars. We win every NC games and lose 2 games in conference. Duke plays below expectations, UK is a 6 seed, and we repeat.

Worst case scenario:
Brunson tries to pad his NBA resume and the team chemistry suffers. Bridges fails to progress, as does Reynolds. Injuries hit. We lose to UVA and Purdue and drop another unexpected game to a cupcake. Six losses in conference puts us at nine losses total and about a 4 or 5 seed, and we don't see the second weekend. Not the worst outcome mind you. Because of the returning minutes on this team, it's hard to see the floor any lower than that unless major injuries hit.

 

[rmilia1]

Iowa

STRENGTHS- Team is going to be very up tempo. Probably the most athleticism we've had in a really long time. Should also have shooters all over the floor. Jok is going to need to play big early in the season especially against quality team like Seton Hall, ND, UVA, ISU but I think he's ready to take the next step.

Weaknesses- Experience. Iowa lost a ton of production. A lot of the returning guys are going to see substantial increase in minutes. Uhl, Wagner, Ellingson, Baer, Jones, Williams all flashed at points last year but they're going to need to play consistently this year. Sxhedule is tough early which is going to be tough. Iowa could easily lose 5 or 6 OOC games.

I see something like 18-13 being likely. That MAY get them in the tourney as their SoS is going to be great. Best case is 21ish wins but this team could easily end up 15-16 too

 

[ericd7633]

Pretty spot on.

I think I'd add outside shooting as a weakness unless Mason/Springs are unreal. The size addition this year is huge.

Also, if Curry isn't a breakout player he will prove to be a steal of a recruit going forward.

Murphy is kinda a impact-breakout hybrid.

I think your expectations(hopefully) are close to the floor. They have potential to be better.

I'll admit my expectation are certainly tempered. We have much more depth this year, but that's because the freshman class is pretty good, and Lynch and Springs transferring in. I'm concerned with how all of this will gel though. I just don't have much faith in Pitino's offensive game plan. Maybe having a more reliable front court this year will make it better and more smooth. Honestly would love for the offense to go through Coffey, who I think can create mismatches, but I don't think that's going to happen.

 

[Gohogs14]

It will be a lot easier for us this year playing with a full roster instead of 9 scholarship players. We have preseason SEC POTY Moses Kingsley at center and Dusty Hannahs at SG should average around 16 PPG again this year. Colorado transfer Dustin Thomas will be the key to the season IMO...he should start at PF after we were basically nonexistant last year at that spot and it should free Kingsley up a little if he can hold his own. We should finish top 5 in the SEC and be a bubble team. Our weakness will probably be playing on the road again and of course how bad the SEC usually is won't help. I'm also not that confident in our backups at PG and PF. This should be the starting lineup:

PG: Jaylen Barford (6'3, 202; 1st team JUCO All-American and #1 ranked JUCO player)
SG: Dusty Hannahs (6'3, 210; Jerry West Award watch list)
"SF": Daryl Macon (6'3, 185; #3 JUCO player)
PF: Dustin Thomas (6'8, 225)
C: Moses Kingsley (6'10, 230; projected 3rd team All-American by Athlon)

 

[Arizona_Sting]

Basically.... we're fucked.


Losing Ferguson, Trier, Smith and Comanche killed our depth. I'll try to breakdown what we have left though.

We are 7 deep. 7 total scholarship players.... don't get me wrong, they are still a talented group of 7 but if just one more goes down or ends up in foul trouble constantly then we'll be playing walk ons.

PG- Parker Jackson-Cartwright
SG- Kadeem Allen
SF- Rawle Alkins
PF- Lauri Markkanen
C- Dusan Ristic

------
Bench:

PG/SG: Kobi Simmons
PF/C: Keanu Pinder


Our guard play is strong still despite losing Trier-- PJC & Kadeem both bring experience and are solid defensively (PJC applies pressure up top) and Deem is a lock down type defender. Rawle & Kobi are ultra athletic guards that can score the ball so they will both see a lot of time as freshman... we have no choice but to play 3 guard lineups for the entire year now.

Lauri Markkanen looks like a lottery pick already. Should lead the team in scoring and rebounding. Absolute stud... hope he stays another year because him and Ayton would be one of the best frontcourts in CBB EVER potentially.

Ristic is a skilled big man that can shoot from mid-range and even deep sometimes with a soft touch down low, but his defense is meh. Pinder will bring energy off the bench and give us decent production. Nothing special but he's def needed for depth behind Ristic&Markkanen.

Overall I'm thinking 4th in the PAC and a 7-9 seed in the tourney with maybe a win or two. Super depressing from where we were not too long ago.

 

[ericd7633]

Basically.... we're fucked.


Losing Ferguson, Trier, Smith and Comanche killed our depth. I'll try to breakdown what we have left though.

We are 7 deep. 7 total scholarship players.... don't get me wrong, they are still a talented group of 7 but if just one more goes down or ends up in foul trouble constantly then we'll be playing walk ons.

PG- Parker Jackson-Cartwright
SG- Kadeem Allen
SF- Rawle Alkins
PF- Lauri Markkanen
C- Dusan Ristic

------
Bench:

PG/SG: Kobi Simmons
PF/C: Keanu Pinder


Our guard play is strong still despite losing Trier-- PJC & Kadeem both bring experience and are solid defensively (PJC applies pressure up top) and Deem is a lock down type defender. Rawle & Kobi are ultra athletic guards that can score the ball so they will both see a lot of time as freshman... we have no choice but to play 3 guard lineups for the entire year now.

Lauri Markkanen looks like a lottery pick already. Should lead the team in scoring and rebounding. Absolute stud... hope he stays another year because him and Ayton would be one of the best frontcourts in CBB EVER potentially.

Ristic is a skilled big man that can shoot from mid-range and even deep sometimes with a soft touch down low, but his defense is meh. Pinder will bring energy off the bench and give us decent production. Nothing special but he's def needed for depth behind Ristic&Markkanen.

Overall I'm thinking 4th in the PAC and a 7-9 seed in the tourney with maybe a win or two. Super depressing from where we were not too long ago.

Just a brutal stretch for Arizona. Is Comanche definitely out for the season? I heard rumors Trier may play on Friday? Just getting one of those guys to play would be huge. Big difference going with 8 players as opposed to just 7. If you end up 4th in the Pac 12, I think your seed will be in the 5-7 range. Pac 12 should be in for another great season. USC, Cal and Utah take a step back but UCLA takes a big step forward. And Arizona State and Stanford should be improved.

 

[Arizona_Sting]

Just a brutal stretch for Arizona. Is Comanche definitely out for the season? I heard rumors Trier may play on Friday? Just getting one of those guys to play would be huge. Big difference going with 8 players as opposed to just 7. If you end up 4th in the Pac 12, I think your seed will be in the 5-7 range. Pac 12 should be in for another great season. USC, Cal and Utah take a step back but UCLA takes a big step forward. And Arizona State and Stanford should be improved.

Nope, that was Chance Comanche that Miller said could play on Friday, and that's not a given. They haven't released anything on him yet, but I really hope he gets cleared soon. My fear is he misses the 1st semester.

From what I've heard Trier isn't even traveling with Arizona to Hawaii. All signs point to him missing the entire year... hope I'm wrong though.

And I agree, I think the top 5 teams in the PAC should all get seeds 7 and below, with maybe 2 more teams sneaking in the 8/9 slots, it will be a slightly deeper conference overall imo.

 

[ericd7633]

Nope, that was Chance Comanche that Miller said could play on Friday, and that's not a given. They haven't released anything on him yet, but I really hope he gets cleared soon. My fear is he misses the 1st semester.

From what I've heard Trier isn't even traveling with Arizona to Hawaii. All signs point to him missing the entire year... hope I'm wrong though.

And I agree, I think the top 5 teams in the PAC should all get seeds 7 and below, with maybe 2 more teams sneaking in the 8/9 slots, it will be a slightly deeper conference overall imo.

Ahh okay, so I got that backwards then in regards to Comanche/Trier. I've tried to keep up on the situation, but it's hard to find anything in regards to what Trier did and if/when he'll be back. Just getting Comanche back even for 2nd semester would be a huge boost.

 

[Great Dayne]

The current expectations of this team is to win a BIG championship and have a final four appearance.

All the starters from last season return and 99.8% of the offense returns. The key additions include Van Viliet at PF. He's a 7 footer with 3 point range and had to sit out the first season due to playing pro ball over seas and now he's already 21 and this will be his first year of eligibility. Another addition will be a 4 star top Ten ranked HS SG who sat out last year due to a knee injury.

They nearly made the elite 8 last year despite losing 3 players that went to the NBA, losing their head coach midseason, and starting off very slow.

Strengths: This is a complete team from starters to bench players. We have more depth on this team than we did on our Championship team 2 years ago. Our interior defense is outstanding, the offensive rebounding will be incredible and overall we have 3 top 50 caliber players.

Weaknesses: Three point range defense, Transition D, Inside the paint scoring efficiency, and FT shooting. Those were the main weaknesses that I noticed last year and won't know if they've been improved on until a few weeks in.

Impact Players:

Ethan Happ gave Frank the Tank fits when he was just a freshman and Frank was a senior. This is now his second full season playing. I expect him to improve his jump shot and FT, and his scoring by from 12 to 15. Bronson Koneg. The dude is one of the most clutch players in the game. He has an amazing ability to create baskets for himself and others. His range is unlimited and efficient, his handles are just nasty and he's increased his quickness and overall athleticism by a good margin over the off season. His goal is to be the best player in the nation this year. He avg 13.7 ppg last year and he's improved 5 ppg every year so far. I say he could get close to 17 ppg, 4 reb and 4 ast shooting 50 40 80.

Breakout Players: Van Vilet the 7fter I was talking about might turn it on later in the season and in the tournament in his first season. He will be our Dirk Nowitzki. Iverson is the backup SG and is probably one of the most athletic players in the nation. Last year he was basically really good at everything except he had no jumper. Watching him in preseason games it appears he has a decent jumper now. This guy could be a very lethal bench player that can lockdown the best player on the opposing team (if they're a 3,2, or 1).


My expectations for the team is to beat Duke in the Championship rematch. I will be shocked if this team doesn't at least make the elite 8 this season. They have some stiff competition in the BIG this year with Indiana, MSU, and Purdue. I'm sure there will be a surprise team as well.

 

[Great Dayne]

Iowa

STRENGTHS- Team is going to be very up tempo. Probably the most athleticism we've had in a really long time. Should also have shooters all over the floor. Jok is going to need to play big early in the season especially against quality team like Seton Hall, ND, UVA, ISU but I think he's ready to take the next step.

Weaknesses- Experience. Iowa lost a ton of production. A lot of the returning guys are going to see substantial increase in minutes. Uhl, Wagner, Ellingson, Baer, Jones, Williams all flashed at points last year but they're going to need to play consistently this year. Sxhedule is tough early which is going to be tough. Iowa could easily lose 5 or 6 OOC games.

I see something like 18-13 being likely. That MAY get them in the tourney as their SoS is going to be great. Best case is 21ish wins but this team could easily end up 15-16 too

Jok might avg 36 minutes a game or higher.

 

[rmilia1]

Jok might avg 36 minutes a game or higher.

Could. Honestly depends on the young guys. Iowa has gone 9 or 10 deep the last few years but this year they may only go 7 or 8 especially early. Jok is going to need to carry them early. He's capable of doing that though so we will see. I do think there's a great shot he leads the B10 in scoring this year